There Are No Parties, Only Criminals and Victims: Ararat Mirzoyan Calls for UN Mandated Peacekeepers in Artsakh

The intensity and brutality of the assault indicates that Azerbaijan's intention is to finalize the ethnic cleansing of the Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh. This was stated by Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

Mirzoyan noted that Azerbaijani forces control the main roads of Nagorno-Karabakh, making it impossible to visit and obtain information about the actual situation. “About 10,000 people have been displaced, including women, children, and the elderly. They are forced to remain outdoors without food and basic conditions, with thousands of families separated. People continue to starve to death due to a 10-month blockade; the healthcare system is paralyzed, hospitals lack electricity, and there is a severe shortage of medicine. People are deprived of even the right to receive first aid; ambulances have no fuel and cannot transport the wounded to hospitals,” said Mirzoyan.

“The footage coming from Nagorno-Karabakh is truly shocking; women, children, and the elderly have been left homeless and without food. Mothers desperately try to find their lost children, women weep in fear that Azerbaijanis may imprison their husbands. It is hard to believe that all this is happening not a century ago, but today, in the 21st century, before the eyes of the international community,” Mirzoyan added.

He stated that in Azerbaijan's eyes, the children of Nagorno-Karabakh are terrorists, and their actions—rockets, armored vehicles, artillery, and drones—are aimed at these children and their parents and grandparents. Mirzoyan drew attention to the fact that Azerbaijani social media is filled with calls to find women and children, rape them, amputate limbs, and feed them to dogs. “Azerbaijani users are spreading the pages of Armenian women from Nagorno-Karabakh and betting on whom these women will end up with to be raped when they come under Azerbaijani control,” he said.

He remarked that the Armenian side has long been warning that such a thing could happen, but the international community has refused to treat the issue with due seriousness. Meanwhile, the current aggression is the culmination of the 10-month blockade of the Lachin corridor and forced starvation.

“Azerbaijan has barbarously escalated its aggression by deliberately targeting civilian residents and infrastructure; this was the final act of this tragedy aimed at the forcible displacement of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh,” declared Mirzoyan. He added that when Armenia requested the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting on the blockade of the Lachin corridor, the council did not respond adequately. The council also failed to respond appropriately when the International Court of Justice issued binding decisions on February 22 and July 6, 2023, which were ignored by Azerbaijan. The international community did not take adequate measures when Azerbaijan illegally established a checkpoint in the Lachin corridor and began kidnapping people.

“When Armenia called for another emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in August 2023, warning that the security and humanitarian situation was fragile and urging the council to resolve all issues through its mechanisms and not forget the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, this council did not respond adequately,” Mirzoyan stated.

The head of the Armenian Foreign Ministry emphasized that now the UN Security Council is obliged to take action. He added that there is no presence of Armenian armed forces in Nagorno-Karabakh. According to him, certain entities are trying to embroil Armenia in military operations with these accusations. Mirzoyan stressed that even in this situation, representatives of states continue to make calls to the parties, whereas there are no conflicting parties; there are criminals and victims. The head of the Armenian Foreign Ministry called for the immediate deployment of a UN inter-agency mission in Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as for the possibility of a UN-mandated peacekeeping force to maintain security and stability in the region.